THE KEY TO THE FORBIDDEN ROOM
1554 Words
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✦ CHAPTER 10 ✦
THE KEY TO THE FORBIDDEN ROOM
Some doors are locked to keep secrets in.
Others are locked to keep the truth out.
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The rain had stopped.
But Luna still felt as though she were standing in the middle of a storm.
Victor's words wouldn't leave her mind.
The truth could kill you.
She sat alone in her apartment, staring at the small silver key lying on the table.
It looked harmless.
Almost beautiful.
But Luna knew better now.
Nothing connected to her father's past was harmless.
She reached for the key.
The tiny letter L engraved on its surface caught the light.
Her father's handwriting.
Her father's secret.
And perhaps the answer to everything she had been searching for.
Luna closed her eyes.
For twelve years, she had believed her father's death was an accident.
She had believed the police.
She had believed the reports.
She had believed everyone who told her to move on.
But what if they had all been lying?
Her eyes opened.
“No more.”
She slipped the key into her coat pocket.
Tonight, she would find the truth.
Whatever it cost.
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Blackstone Tower was almost empty when Luna arrived.
It was nearly midnight.
The massive building looked different at night.
Cold.
Silent.
Dangerous.
Luna entered through the private entrance and made her way toward the executive floor.
She had memorized Adrian's security schedule during the past few weeks.
The cameras near the eastern corridor were temporarily disabled every night for exactly ten minutes.
Tonight, she had seven minutes left.
She walked quickly.
Her footsteps echoed through the empty hallway.
When she reached the end, she stopped.
A black door stood in front of her.
There was no sign.
No room number.
Only a small silver lock.
Luna's heart began pounding.
She pulled out the key.
For a moment, she hesitated.
Then she inserted it.
Click.
The lock opened.
Luna stared at the door.
This was it.
The forbidden room.
She pushed it open.
Cold air touched her face.
The room was completely dark.
She switched on her phone flashlight.
Shelves covered the walls.
Old files.
Boxes.
Photographs.
Documents.
Everything looked as though someone had been collecting secrets for decades.
Luna stepped inside.
Her eyes moved across the shelves.
Then she saw a familiar name.
DAVID HART.
Her father's name.
Her breath caught.
She pulled the file from the shelf.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
The first page was an old photograph.
Her father was standing beside a younger Adrian Black.
Luna stared at it.
“Adrian…”
Why had Adrian never told her?
She turned the page.
There were financial records.
Company documents.
Photographs.
And handwritten notes.
One sentence was underlined in red ink.
THE PROJECT MUST NEVER BE DISCOVERED.
Luna frowned.
“What project?”
She continued reading.
The documents were complicated, but one thing became clear.
Her father had discovered something inside Blackstone Corporation.
Something powerful enough to put his life in danger.
Something the company had desperately wanted to keep hidden.
Luna turned another page.
Her blood went cold.
There was a newspaper clipping about her father's death.
Across the article, someone had written:
ACCIDENT?
Then beneath it:
NO.
Luna stepped backward.
Someone else had questioned his death.
Someone who knew the truth.
She searched through the file again.
A folded piece of paper fell to the floor.
Luna picked it up.
It was a handwritten note.
She recognized the handwriting immediately.
Her father's.
Her heart began racing.
Luna,
If you ever find this, it means I failed to protect you.
She stopped reading.
Tears blurred her vision.
She continued.
There are things I could never tell you.
Not because I didn't trust you.
Because I loved you too much.
Luna covered her mouth.
Her father had written this for her.
Maybe shortly before he died.
Maybe hours before.
Maybe days.
She kept reading.
If someone tells you my death was an accident, don't believe them.
Her hands began shaking.
I discovered the truth.
And the truth is hidden inside Blackstone.
Luna looked around the room.
The truth was here.
Somewhere.
She read the final line.
Trust the man who carries the black ring.
Luna frowned.
“What does that mean?”
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Suddenly—
A sound came from outside.
Footsteps.
Luna froze.
Someone was approaching.
The footsteps stopped outside the door.
Her heart pounded.
The door handle moved.
Once.
Twice.
Luna backed toward the shelves.
The door opened.
Adrian walked in.
Luna held her breath.
He switched on the light.
His eyes immediately found her.
Neither of them spoke.
“What are you doing here?” Adrian finally asked.
Luna slowly stepped forward.
“I could ask you the same question.”
His eyes moved to the file in her hand.
His expression changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“From here.”
“You shouldn't have opened that file.”
“Why?”
“Because you don't know what you're reading.”
“My father's name is on it.”
Adrian went silent.
Luna's anger grew.
“You knew.”
“I knew about some of it.”
“Some?”
She held up the letter.
“Did you know my father believed his death wasn't an accident?”
Adrian stared at the paper.
Then at her.
“Yes.”
Luna felt something break inside her.
“You knew?”
“I was trying to find out the truth.”
“For how long?”
Adrian didn't answer.
“That long?”
He looked away.
“I was seventeen when your father disappeared.”
Luna froze.
“Disappeared?”
Adrian's eyes returned to hers.
“I didn't say he died.”
The room suddenly felt colder.
Luna stared at him.
“What are you saying?”
Before Adrian could answer, the lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the room.
Luna heard a noise behind her.
A soft metallic click.
Then Adrian grabbed her arm.
“Don't move.”
“What happened?”
“Someone else is here.”
Luna's heart raced.
They stood completely still.
A shadow moved between the shelves.
Adrian pulled Luna behind him.
Then a man's voice came from the darkness.
“You should never have opened that file.”
Luna couldn't see his face.
“Who are you?”
The man laughed quietly.
“You already know.”
“No, I don't.”
A light suddenly flashed.
For only a second, Luna saw the man's face.
Her heart stopped.
She knew him.
He had been standing in the background at Blackstone Tower many times.
An employee.
Someone she had trusted.
Then the lights went out again.
A loud crash echoed through the room.
Adrian pushed Luna toward the door.
“Run!”
“But—”
“Now!”
They rushed into the hallway.
The door slammed behind them.
Luna looked back.
The corridor was empty.
The stranger was gone.
Adrian grabbed her shoulders.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did you recognize him?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Luna swallowed.
“Daniel.”
Adrian's expression changed instantly.
“That's impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because Daniel disappeared three years ago.”
Luna stared at him.
“Then who was that?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Her hand suddenly touched something inside her coat.
The silver key.
She pulled it out.
There was something different about it.
A small section had opened.
Inside was a tiny folded piece of paper.
Luna slowly unfolded it.
Only four words were written there.
ROOM SEVEN. TRUST NO ONE.
She looked at Adrian.
“What's Room Seven?”
For the first time, Adrian looked genuinely afraid.
“Luna…”
“What is it?”
He stared at the key.
Then whispered:
“The room my father sealed twenty years ago.”
“Why?”
Adrian's voice became almost inaudible.
“Because that's where he kept the truth.”
Luna looked toward the forbidden room.
Then back at Adrian.
“Then that's where we're going.”
Adrian shook his head.
“You don't understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
He stepped closer.
“If we open Room Seven, there's no going back.”
Luna tightened her fingers around the key.
“I stopped going back a long time ago.”
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Before Adrian could respond, a phone began ringing somewhere inside the forbidden room.
They both froze.
The ringing continued.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then stopped.
A few seconds later, another sound came from inside.
A man's voice.
Weak.
Distorted.
But strangely familiar.
“Luna…”
Her entire body went cold.
Adrian stared at her.
The voice came again.
“Luna, if you can hear me…”
She stepped toward the door.
“Who is that?”
The voice answered.
And Luna nearly collapsed.
Because she knew that voice.
It belonged to the man she had buried twelve years ago.
Her father.
“Don't trust Adrian.”
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Luna turned slowly toward Adrian.
His face had gone completely pale.
Neither of them spoke.
The key trembled between her fingers.
And for the first time, Luna wondered if the greatest secret in her life wasn't about her father's death at all.
Maybe it was about why he had been hiding from her.
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END OF CHAPTER 10
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